Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship
Objective This study investigated the link between personality, opinions on social and political issues, and social media use, as well as the moderating effects of social media use on the relationship between personality and those opinions. Past research suggests that personality, opinion direction...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
|
| Series: | Australian Journal of Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/00049530.2025.2451156 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832592875279351808 |
|---|---|
| author | Melissa Cox Bernadine Cocks Susan E. Watt Elizabeth C. Temple |
| author_facet | Melissa Cox Bernadine Cocks Susan E. Watt Elizabeth C. Temple |
| author_sort | Melissa Cox |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective This study investigated the link between personality, opinions on social and political issues, and social media use, as well as the moderating effects of social media use on the relationship between personality and those opinions. Past research suggests that personality, opinion direction (i.e. favourability of an issue), and social media use are inter-related. However, the relationship between personality and opinion strength (i.e. how extreme an opinion is disregarding favourability), and potential moderating effects of social media use on that relationship have yet to be investigated.Method Participants (N = 536) completed surveys measuring social media usage, personality, and opinions on various social issues.Results Several personality traits predicted opinion direction or strength on at least one social issue. When all social issues were combined to measure overall progressive opinions, openness and extraversion predicted opinion direction, and openness predicted opinion strength. Time spent on social media significantly predicted direction of opinions on several issues, as well as strength of opinion on the issue of gender equality, however it did not moderate any relationship between personality and opinion direction or strength.Conclusions Although opinions, personality, and social media use are sometimes related, individuals high or low in particular personality traits are at no greater risk of polarising due to social media use than anyone else. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-93dfc2e0ab324e11a27ce8ddbecae828 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0004-9530 1742-9536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Australian Journal of Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-93dfc2e0ab324e11a27ce8ddbecae8282025-01-21T01:33:56ZengTaylor & Francis GroupAustralian Journal of Psychology0004-95301742-95362025-12-0177110.1080/00049530.2025.2451156Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationshipMelissa Cox0Bernadine Cocks1Susan E. Watt2Elizabeth C. Temple3School of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, AustraliaObjective This study investigated the link between personality, opinions on social and political issues, and social media use, as well as the moderating effects of social media use on the relationship between personality and those opinions. Past research suggests that personality, opinion direction (i.e. favourability of an issue), and social media use are inter-related. However, the relationship between personality and opinion strength (i.e. how extreme an opinion is disregarding favourability), and potential moderating effects of social media use on that relationship have yet to be investigated.Method Participants (N = 536) completed surveys measuring social media usage, personality, and opinions on various social issues.Results Several personality traits predicted opinion direction or strength on at least one social issue. When all social issues were combined to measure overall progressive opinions, openness and extraversion predicted opinion direction, and openness predicted opinion strength. Time spent on social media significantly predicted direction of opinions on several issues, as well as strength of opinion on the issue of gender equality, however it did not moderate any relationship between personality and opinion direction or strength.Conclusions Although opinions, personality, and social media use are sometimes related, individuals high or low in particular personality traits are at no greater risk of polarising due to social media use than anyone else.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/00049530.2025.2451156Social mediapersonalityopinion strengthopinion directionprogressive opinionsbig five |
| spellingShingle | Melissa Cox Bernadine Cocks Susan E. Watt Elizabeth C. Temple Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship Australian Journal of Psychology Social media personality opinion strength opinion direction progressive opinions big five |
| title | Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship |
| title_full | Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship |
| title_fullStr | Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship |
| title_full_unstemmed | Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship |
| title_short | Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship |
| title_sort | personality opinion strength and social media use not such a straightforward relationship |
| topic | Social media personality opinion strength opinion direction progressive opinions big five |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/00049530.2025.2451156 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT melissacox personalityopinionstrengthandsocialmediausenotsuchastraightforwardrelationship AT bernadinecocks personalityopinionstrengthandsocialmediausenotsuchastraightforwardrelationship AT susanewatt personalityopinionstrengthandsocialmediausenotsuchastraightforwardrelationship AT elizabethctemple personalityopinionstrengthandsocialmediausenotsuchastraightforwardrelationship |